Mike SembosThe artwork of Assistant Professor of Art Sasha Rudensky ’01 has been featured in a multi-page spread in the January 2014 issue of Rangefinder, a monthly magazine for the professional wedding and portrait photographer. The story is called “Culture of Brightness,” and it explores Rudensky’s “Brightness” photo series, in which she documents the lives of everyday Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. The collection was four years in the making. Rudensky herself was born in Moscow in 1979, and in the article she explains that in Russian-Ukrainian culture, the concept of “bright” is a synonym for “being beautiful, unforgettable — something that…
Olivia DrakeEthnomusicologist Sumarsam, University Professor of Music, delivered a paper titled, "Javanese Gamelan in a Changing World," during the annual meeting of the Asian Pacific Society for Ethnomusicology (APSE), hosted by Mahasarakham University, Thailand Jan. 6-9. He also chaired plenary sessions at the annual meeting. The main objectives of the APSE are to preserve and safeguard the ancient and traditional music and music of ethnic groups, which are invaluable cultural heritage of the world. The APSE has held a conference every year since 1994. Many ethnomusicologists, scholars, and musicians from all over the world, who are interested in Asian Pacific cultures, particularly,…
Salvatore Scibona, the Frank B. Weeks Visiting Assistant Professor of English, is the winner of this year's Ellen Levine Fund for Writers Award for his novel-in-progress Where In the World Is William Wurs? The award is sponsored by the New York Community Trust and the Ellen Levine Fund for Writers. Members of the Teachers and Writers Collaborative nominated Scibona for the award, which comes with a $7,500 grant. Awards go an author who has previously published a print edition of one or two books of fiction, and who doesn't currently have a publishing contract for a second or third book of…
On Dec. 4, Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Center for the Humanities, professor of history, professor of letters, presented the keynote address at a conference on "Does Literature Matter," at the University of North Bengal in India. His talk was titled "Matters of Fact and Matters of Fiction: Literature and the Historian." He also led a workshop on "presence" at the conference. Kleinberg also will be presenting lectures and workshops in Delhi including a talk at University of Delhi on Dec. 10, a workshop at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies on Dec. 11, and a lecture on "History and…
Richard Grossman, professor of economics, spoke about the poor thinking behind nine of the worst economic policy mistakes of the past 200 years at Boston Public Library Dec. 4. Grossman is the author of the newly-published book, Wrong: Nine Economic Policy Disasters and What We Can Learn from Them. He also spoke about economic policy mistakes at the Seminary Coop Bookstore in Chicago on Nov. 14 and the Museum of American Finance in New York on Nov. 21. At Wesleyan, he teaches classes in American and European economic history, macroeconomics, and money and banking. Grossman also is a visiting scholar at the…
A book written by Rick Elphick, professor of history, tutor in the College of Social Studies, received "honorable mention" for the Herskovits Prize, the most prestigious award for scholarship on Africa. This annual award is named in honor of Melville J. Herskovits, one of the African Studies Association's founders. Elphick is the author of The Equality of Believers: Protestant Missionaries and the Racial Politics of South Africa, published by the University of Virginia Press in September 2012. The Equality of Believers reconfigures the narrative of race in South Africa by exploring the pivotal role played by these missionaries and their teachings in…
The prestigious Folio Society of London has just brought out a limited collector's edition of Fifty Fables of La Fontaine, a book of fables translated by Norm Shapiro, professor of French. The collection, originally published by University of Illinois Press in 1985, was the first of his several volumes of La Fontaine, culminating in the award-winning The Complete Fables of Jean de La Fontaine (2007). Jean de La Fontaine was the most widely read French poet of the 17th century. This new collector’s edition presents 50 of his fables.
Joop Varekamp and Ellen Thomas are the authors of three chapters included in a reference volume for Long Island Sound. The book, Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea, is published by Springer in 2013. Varekamp is the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, professor of earth and environmental sciences, professor of environmental studies. Thomas is research professor of earth and environmental sciences. Varekamp co-authored a chapter titled "Metals, Organic Compounds and Nutrients in Long Island Sound: Sources, Magnitudes, Trends and Impacts," and another chapter titled "The Physical Oceanography of Long Island Sound." Thomas co-authored a chapter titled…
Lauren RubensteinPeter Rutland, Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor in Global Issues and Democratic Thought, recently presented a paper at the 13th annual Aleksanteri Conference, held in Helsinki, Finland, Oct. 23-25. The theme of the conference was "Russia and the World." Rutland's paper, titled, "Power or Profit? Explaining Russia's Foreign Trade," was co-authored by Ivan Stoitzev '13, and based on Stoitzev's senior thesis. At the conference, Rutland also chaired a panel on "Russia and Great Power Politics in Asia-Pacific" and, together with Stoitzev, participated in a panel on "Economic Issues in Russian Foreign Policy." Rutland is also professor of government, professor of…
Bill HolderMary-Jane Rubenstein, associate professor of religion and chair of the Religion Department, has been appointed Wesleyan's 2013-14 Distinguished Teaching Fellow. She also is associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Established last year by the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology Rob Rosenthal, the Distinguished Teaching Fellowship honors Wesleyan's most outstanding teachers and gives them the opportunity to teach a course outside their usual departmental offerings. The inaugural fellowship was awarded to Andy Szegedy-Maszak, Jane A. Seney Professor of Greek, professor of classical studies. "It is no surprise that Mary-Jane is Wesleyan's second Distinguished Teaching Fellow: she is known…
Rob Rosenthal, the John E. Andrus Professor of Sociology, will serve as Director of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life for a three-year term, beginning July 2014. Rosenthal has a distinguished history of initiating programs to integrate public life into the Wesleyan curriculum: He was the founding director of the Center for Service Learning, founding co-director the Center for Community Partnerships, and as Provost he instituted the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and developed new programming within the Allbritton Center including the year-long "music in public life" initiative. Rosenthal served as provost from 2010-2013 and oversaw Wesleyan's reaccreditation process. Immediately…
Ellen Thomas, research professor of earth and environmental sciences, was named the winner of the 2013 Association for Women Geoscientists Professional Excellence Award in the Academia category. This award recognizes exceptional women who have made distinguished contributions in their professions throughout their careers. "The Award Committee was especially impressed with the breadth and depth of your professional accomplishments, your commitment to mentoring, and the emphasis you have placed on outreach and other service activities during your career," wrote Aimee Scheffer, president of the AWG in Thomas' award letter. "Congratulations and thank you for being a positive role model to current and…